Order of Business - 18th December 2008

Order of Business – 18th December 2008
Senator David Norris: I welcome the fact that the Government is taking initiative. It has got at least one element right, and that is research and development. It should be kept here.
I have spoken in this House on several occasions over the years about situations where brilliant, innovative and imaginative work done by Irish people was repatriated to the United States along with the profits of that work. We must make sure we get a fair crack of the whip when it comes to our own creativity.
It is not right that this House should be sidelined, which is an increasing feature of the political system. It is a pity. We should not be pussyfooting around the issue of the wage agreement. The reality is that there must be an immediate wage freeze. None of us should get an extra cent while people all around us are losing their jobs. There must be solidarity in this.
In regard to the fishing industry, I am delighted that Members on both sides of the House have sought to give support to our Ministers in Brussels. We should not always touch the forelock to Europe. If one quantifies what other members have received from us in terms of our fish stocks, it more than matches the sum of every single cent we have received from Brussels in grants.
Senators: Hear, hear.
Senator David Norris: If we had stayed out of it and kept our fish stocks, we would be in a better position than we are now. We should remind our European colleagues of that. France, Portugal and Spain have consistently devastated their own stocks before setting off to pillage those of others. Many years ago, I offered support to the Canadians in their dispute with European fishermen who had gone as far as the cod banks off Newfoundland and were destroying the fish stocks there. Our Ministers are strongly deserving of our support in this matter.
Senators: Hear, hear.
Senator David Norris: Will the Leader respond to the series of questions I asked of him in recent days? The first relates to the situation of Ms Pamela Izevbekhai. I honour Senators Leyden and Ó Murchú for their strong support on this issue. I would be pleased to withdraw my motion in favour of an all-party proposal, which would be preferable. Like Senator Leyden, I have been the subject of anonymous contacts, although it was not a telephone call but an anonymous letter. Unfortunately, I threw it in the bin, as I do with all such correspondence, when I should have handed it to the Garda. The letter was accompanied by a newspaper article in reference to which I asked the Leader to raise with the Minister the apparent leaks from sources within the immigration service and whether there should be an inquiry in this regard.
I also asked him about certain matters surrounding the resignation of the chairman of the Equality Tribunal. The statement by the chairwoman of the Equality Authority was issued almost simultaneously with the announcement of that resignation, which had the effect of undermining it. Was that statement mandated as a result of a board meeting or was it a type of maverick action? The representative of the National Women's Council of Ireland has done the decent thing by resigning. The remaining members of the board should do the same. It is astonishing that they should so openly display the fact that they do not have the guts of a gooseberry compared with this wonderful woman who resigned in protest and in order to cease collaborating in the destruction of equality rights.